Cycle of Vengeance
by D.M.P
Summary: Fic: An example of the circle of hate and revenge that occurs so frequently in war


CYCLE OF VENGEANCE

by D.M.P.

"Never kill your enemy, or you will 

fear the wrath of his son."

- Anon.

Chapter 1

They had died, and he had his revenge. The continent was completely wiped out; it raised a dust cloud that lasted for six months. All life was gone. All the Yeerk scum were dead, reduced to ashes.

The Dome ship flew by the planet on its way home; the mission complete. Prince Galuit-Enilon-Esarrouth smiled with his eyes at that thought of completed revenge as he stared out his quarter's window at Leera's dark, ruined surface. It was only five years ago when the Force Commander first vowed to avenge his family's death. It was at an Andalite outpost in the Meglar quadrant of space. His wife and three children came with him when he was assigned there as Security Head. He wanted them to stay on the Andalite home world, but his wife insisted that they should come.

Oh his wife! Just the thought made Galuit long for her again. Lykla was beautiful and gentle. She had the quickest tail, the sharpest wit and a wonderful sense of humor. She was Galuit's perfect match, his soul mate. He could still recall those dark blue eyes and the love that they showed....

Anyhow, the Yeerks- those crafty devils- had shown up during fourth watch, at the latest hour. The sentries were few, and by time the guards were properly warned, the cretin were everywhere. Galuit was on first alert.

Lykla was awake and sat up with their youngest by her side.

< Good luck my noble warrior, > she had whispered to him.

Galuit was in a hurry; he blamed himself that the Yeerks got past the main security sensors so easily. < I will, > he had said and quickly touched tails once with his wife before his left for his fighter. It was the last he saw of her alive.

The fighting was fierce, but the Andalite defense managed to drive off the Yeerks. Galuit flew back to the outpost dock to discover that one Yeerk ship managed to board the space colony. They had left with half their supplies and wreaked havoc everywhere. Galuit made his way to the living quarters of the outpost only to discover the Yeerks made their mark there too. The supplies were located on the other side of the base; it was almost like an evil afterthought that the Yeerks decided to invade to the living quarters.

Galuit rushed into his family's lodgings to see the horror of his life. The front portal was ripped open by Hork-Bajir claws to lead the blackness of the room beyond. One of the power generators have been destroyed, so the room was clothed in an eerie darkness. A stench of death filled the room. Galuit turned on the emergency lighting to see blood on the walls. The simple furnishings were overturned and destroyed, but his eyes focused only on one thing . His eldest daughter was lying on the floor, disemboweled by one long sweeping cut across her belly from her chest to her tail. The scattered entrails were crushed by Hork-Bajir talons, as the bloody claws led to another part of the quarters.

Galuit felt a wave of revulsion run through him as he fell to his knees by the bloody carcass. He touched his dead daughter's cold cheek. His stalk eyes followed the stained prints, but Galuit felt riveted to the spot. However, he slowly rose to his hooves and followed the dark trail to the next room. 

The door was closed and for a split second Galuit hoped that life remained on the other side. When the door was opened though, the body of his only son fell through, his throat slashed deeply to the brink of beheading. Galuit entered to see more gore splashed on the walls, as if Satan himself took up painting and was displaying his latest deadly masterpiece. His youngest was in a lifeless heap by the corner, and his wife....

Galuit approached Lykla slowly and reached out to touch her shoulder with utmost care, as if she were only asleep and the slightest touch would wake her. The body turned to its side and Galuit was faced with his wife's lifeless face. Her eyes stalks were shut tight, but her main eyes were wide open; they stared upward at the ceiling blankly. She was dead. Even her beautiful gaze was gone, the sparkling eyes replaced by two cloudy orbs of steel blue.

There, he held her in his arms and suddenly a long moan was heard. The moan was his own. Galuit sat, grieving as he cradled the corpse. His wife! His children! Gone, slaughtered mercilessly as part of a cruel whim of the Yeerks. Those cold-hearted scum! Those evil parasites!

And on that day, Galuit vowed to have his revenge on those Yeerks. A urge that would last for years, that will never be satisfied, like an endless thirst, no matter how many Yeerks were killed. Every plot, every military strategy he had created since then had focused not on simply defending and reaching the military's objectives, but also in creating the largest Yeerk genocide possible. If any of his superiors noticed this deadly trend, they never questioned it. 

Galuit turned away from the window. His latest plan had been a great sucess. Millions of those slugs died on Leera. After five long years of death and destruction, Galuit's vengeful thirst had finally subsided. But a new one had just begun....

Chapter 2

"Brothers! Sisters! Word has been brought to me that the Andalite scum has yet again committed a horrible massacre of our people!" The Sub-Visser spoke savagely, the words echoing across the Yeerk pool. "Our people were slaughtered during the Leera invasion!" 

The crowd of Controllers murmured to themselves as this news was heard.

"It was unexpected. Those sly demons planted explosives underneath the main continent of the planet. And without a backward glance, they set off the bombs! Millions died! Our soldiers did not pass away boldly on the battlefield, like any courageous fighter, but in the underhanded, cold-hearted way of the Andalites, by blowing them sky-high, while they had no way of defending or protecting themselves!"

The crowd responded to this by shouting and screaming cries against the Andalites, cries for blood. The Hork-Bajir clashed their blades together and waved their clenched claws into the air. The Taxxons hissed and spluttered foam from their oval mouths as they reared up onto their back legs.

"Yes, my people, yes!" the Sub-Visser screamed into the air. She raised both bladed arms in fury. "We must have our revenge, brothers and sisters! The Andalites must pay for the deaths of our people!! And they _will_ pay!" The Sub-Visser was working up a frenzy, a killing frenzy. "In blood!! Death to the Andalites!!!" The crowd burst out in cheers. "May they pay in blood!!!"

The Yeerk ship of reinforcements landed in the Earth surface. The Sub-Visser and her soldiers unloaded from the ship. The new Yeerk troops were given assignments and left at their barracks. Tomorrow they would be sent as guard to the local observatory for a special project being prepared there. Most did not want this simple duty; they must avenge their fallen comrades. The urge for vengeance was strong; the enemy will die soon.

Chapter 3

Jake fled to the grove of trees nearby. His tiger hide was cut and bleeding, but he dared not demorph until he was sure the others had escaped. Nearby, the observatory was in flames, with smoke billowing out of the windows. Their mission was over. The Yeerks were planning to launch a probe into space that would control all of Earth's satellites for their own purposes. The night of the launch, however, Animorphs came to destroy it. The fighting that occurred had been brief and bloody. However, they had managed to demolish this probe, and once again the Yeerk's plans have been ruined.

Jake spotted Cassie limping out of the side entrance, dragging her hind leg behind her. But soon she was there by his side and demorphing from her wolf form. 

"Have the others come out yet?" she asked. Jake shook his head and watched with worried eyes.

A gorilla came out of the back entrance and rolled in the dirt to extinguish the last of the flames for his back. An blue figured followed behind after wiping his tail blade on the grass. 

< Whoa, > the gorilla said as he ambled toward the two, < aren't we having a hot time tonight? > 

Another explosion was heard from inside the building and more jets of fire burst from the building.

< Hey, anybody got any marshmallows? > Marco weakly joked again before he demorphed, then re-morphed into an osprey for their flight home. Cassie had already morphed again, and was flapping her wings nervously.

< Did you see Rachel or Tobias? > Jake asked them worriedly. The blaze that raged so viscously now had been set off when the probe exploded and was dangerously near those two. 

< No, Prince Jake, > Ax answered. < The last I saw of them was before the probe exploded. I do not think they survived the blast. >

Suddenly a roar was heard with in the blaze. Out of the main entrance an enormous grizzly burst out, heedless of the flames. Long, bleeding cuts were scarred into the shaggy fur, and one fore limb was almost hacked off by a Hork-Bajir blade. But Rachel ignored these wounds as she carefully plodded towards her comrades in the grove of trees, carrying something on her back. When she got there, Rachel collapsed onto the ground. Cassie flew over by her friend's side.

< Oh my God, > Cassie was saying to her, < Rachel, are you all right? >

Not a word came from her friend. Rachel's dark bear eyes seemed out-of-focus and dazed. Rachel could still see the final scene flashing before her eyes.

The probe had exploded, setting off more fires from the surrounding electrical equipment. The inferno surrounded Rachel, but she still had a chance if she leaped over the it. But she had to be sure of one more thing first.

< Tobias! > she cried out. Rachel hadn't seen what happened to him after the explosion and feared for her love's life.

Then she saw him. He was flying up towards the broken skylight to safety. But Tobias never noticed the red Dracon flash until it was too late.

< NO! > Rachel screamed when the limp form fell to the ground. Unimaginable pain shot through her soul. It was like her heart was being ripped out when Tobias fell.

Rachel jumped through the fire to see who fired that shot. It was a Hork-Bajir, the Sub-Visser. The Sub-Visser was shouting something in Galard; Rachel couldn't tell what it meant. If she did, Rachel would have realized that the Sub-Visser was shrieking, "At least one will die in the name of my fallen brothers and sisters!!"

Rachel gave a fearsome roar and the last thing the Sub-Visser saw was an angry bear jumping toward her throat.

Now outside in the still night air, Rachel gave no signs of getting up. Ax carefully lifted the still form of Tobias from Rachel's back and laid him on the ground. No one spoke for a long time.

Empty. That was how Rachel felt. It was like she was completely wiped clean of any emotion, like she was just a blank void. Then, a spark of feeling trickled trough her. The feelings grew and grew until she was filled with the dark stirrings of the heart. Loss. Anger. Pain. And finally the most darkest of all: Vengeance. 

Finally, Rachel uttered something. She heaved her massive, bloodstained body up off the ground and said it again. The words came out slow at first, then were said faster and faster, louder and louder, with more and more heart-pounding passion, until she was screaming this message into the sky.

< THE YEERKS WILL PAY FOR THIS!!! > Rachel cried out into the darkness. < THEY WILL PAY IN BLOOD!!! >

And the cycle of vengeance moved on.


End file.
